Letter: Bush not credible on Social Security

Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 | 8:52 a.m.

The sky is falling again, to hear members of the Bush administration tell it. First it was Saddam Hussein and how dangerous he was, and now it's that Social Security is broke. We believed them on Saddam's Iraq, but after defeating Saddam, we found out that all the dangers they spoke off were incorrect. So don't believe them on this new attempt to panic us.

The Social Security Administration itself says it is solvent until 2042. And 2018? That's merely the date at which all the money borrowed from Social Security by Congress over the last few decades will start having to be repaid. The Congressional Budget Office is even more optimistic. It says 2052 is when solvency will be a question. It also estimates that setting up private accounts will require borrowing $2 trillion over the next 10 years, $6 trillion over the next 20 years and $15 trillion over the next 40 years.

At that point, it won't just be Social Security, but the whole country that will be in serious financial trouble.

RICHARD J. MUNDY